Cell-containing hydrogel body and method for producing same

A method of producing a cell-containing hydrogel body, comprising:

• forming, under a gas phase, a first hydrogel droplet on a surface of a substrate, the first hydrogel droplet containing first cells being dispersed therein and a first hydrogel polymer;
• forming, under a gas phase, a second hydrogel droplet on the surface, the second hydrogel droplet containing second cells being dispersed therein and a second hydrogel polymer, the second hydrogel droplet being positioned adjacent to and in contact with the first hydrogel droplet;
• forming, under a gas phase, a cell-containing hydrogel body on the surface by gelling a hydrogel droplet-combined body including a first droplet portion derived from the first hydrogel droplet and a second droplet portion derived from the second hydrogel droplet, and
• culturing the first cells and the second cells in the cell-containing hydrogel body in a floating state after the cell-containing hydrogel body is removed from the surface to obtain the cell-containing hydrogel body that contains a first cell aggregate of the first cells and a second cell aggregate of the second cells bound to the first cell aggregate,
• wherein a combination of the first cells and the second cells is a combination of epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells, and
• wherein the mesenchymal cells comprise hair follicle mesenchymal cells.